"What choo talkin’ about quiet time?!” - 28 Day Joy Challenge – Day 17 – Purity 1073

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo comes to us from— let's see— today's photo of the setting sun in the sky and the surrounding shoreline fauna reflected in the waters of Portsmouth Harbor come to us from Pastor Andy Elms, who shared this scene on social media back on June 16th. Andy has been busy doing kingdom work as always, recently crossing to this side of the pond to evangelize at tent meetings down in the Kingston, New York area, as if leading Family Church and Forge Ministry School weren't enough already. But even busy kingdom warriors need to stop every once in a while to appreciate the beauty around them, to remember just who it is they are working for. Well, it's Tuesday, and even though my day job checks are provided for by a Fortune 500 telecommunications company, and I certainly am grateful for that job and what it provides me with, my passion is to encourage others to seek the Lord and His will for their lives, to not only discover their freedom in Christ, but to find their kingdom purpose as well. Now, before you freak out and worry about having to sell all your earthly possessions and quit your day job to go into full-time ministry, a traveling evangelist or to be a street preacher and a wandering ascetic, uh, unless that's what the Holy Spirit is calling you to do. Just relax, and before you do anything drastic, go to the Lord in prayer and ask for his wisdom and guidance to show you the way you should go. While we shouldn't quench the Spirit by denying the Lord's calling to service, we should count the cost and be sure that what we are be sure that what we are prepared to take on what we are thinking about walking into. Of course, we have to be discerning in this regard. We don't want to be so humble that we deny that we are adequately equipped to do anything, and also we don't want to spend endless hours of preparation and remain idle. Yes, we may be completely honest and correct about our self-assessment that we don't know enough about our faith to be some convincing apologist. But if that's the case, I would point out that means we have to get equipped by knowing what we believe and why we believe it, and to live it, live by it. Also, I would remind those who feel ill-equipped to speak on the matters of faith that, well, yeah, if you feel ill-equipped to speak on matters of faith, that the best evidence for God that we can give to others is our own story of how we came to know the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it has impacted our lives. Instead of starting some theological debate, tell people what the Lord has done in your life. That's what I do. Uh, but don't get it twisted. That's not all I do. Since it took most of my life to know the truth and to surrender to the Lordship of Christ, and because I lived such a secular life, when I came to faith, I had an equal desire to be sure that what I believed was real, and that if I was a Christian now, I wanted to be a real Christian with the way I lived my life. Needless to say, I had a lot to learn about God's Kingdom. And even more to unlearn from my exposure to the world, sin, and false religious and philosophical systems. So I sought the Lord. I pursued Christian knowledge and training. My best time— my pastime is reading Christian books, listening to Christian teachings, listening to Christian music, and spending quiet time enjoying the Lord's presence and talking to God where I could, where I could develop my relationship with him. And that brings us to our current series where I am walking through the 28-Day Joy Challenge because my— because we are encouraging ourselves and others, you, to find peace in our lives by increasing our capacity for joy and by building our emotional resilience through simple practices of quieting and appreciation. The 28-Day Joy Challenge is based on Dr. Marcus Warner and Chris Corsi's latest book, The Four Habits of Joy-Filled People. And you can sign up to take it for free and purchase a variety of books from Warner and Currie on the topic of joy by going to 4habits.org. So let's jump into Day 17, which will direct us to breathe and sigh. And so the 28-day, 28-day Joy Challenge says Day 17: Calming the Stress. Welcome to Day 17 of the 28 Days to Joy Challenge. Today's encouragement: As you take a moment to breathe deeply, you can feel your mind and body relax, which can change the course of your day. Learn to be quiet and still. Learning to be quiet and still is a gift worth giving to yourself. Today's practice: Exercise 17. Our practice today is breathing in an intentional way to calm our bodies. How this exercise will benefit you. Research shows the following breathing exercise is one of the best ways to calm down when stress levels are running high. Exercise steps: Find a comfortable spot and begin by inhaling deeply and quickly 2 times in your nose, then exhale out of your mouth with a sigh as you breathe out. Take one deep breath in through your nose, followed by a quick follow-up inhale through your nose. Then you breathe out with a sigh of relief. Try this for 3 minutes. Notice how the, this, the breathing exercise impacts you. Have fun with this exercise. We pick up tomorrow with more joy practice. That's from our friends at 4habits.org. One of the principles I've learned as a disciple of Jesus Christ that I try to live by is to always tell the truth. So I have to tell you the truth about today's Choi practice. I found it difficult. Okay, I have to admit that while I may have been born and raised in New York State, I feel that part of me is from Missouri, the Show-Me State, because I am not adept at or have assurance I am doing things correctly when I am handed written instructions. And when I saw the instruction to deeply and quickly, to inhale deeply and quickly 2 times in your nose, then exhale out your mouth with a sigh as you breathe out, I thought I understood them and gave them a try. I can do almost anything once, after all. So okay, inhale, inhale, and sigh as you exhale. But wait, quickly and deeply? I don't know if I can do that. I can inhale deeply or I can inhale quickly, but both? Listen, you can't have it both ways. Do you want the inhales to be quick or deep? Because if I do them deep, it won't be quick, and if I do them quick, they won't be deep. And sighing? Do you want me to audibly sigh? Should I give out some long groan so you or I know I am sighing. And then I realized that the instructions had more. Take one deep breath in through your nose, followed by a quick follow-up inhale through your nose. Then you breathe out with a sigh of relief. Is this a clarification or a follow-up instruction? Am I taking two quick and deep breaths through my nose and breathing out with a sigh, followed by one long inhale through my nose, followed by a quick follow-up inhale? And breathing out with a sigh of relief, or do I do that with my nose? And do I do that with my nose or my mouth? Are the breaths one long, deep, and one short, quick and deep, or what? Uh, well, I wasn't quite sure if I was doing it right. I figured the idea was to take a deep breath in, and just when you thought you couldn't breathe in anymore, to take another breath in to completely fill your lungs' capacities before one long exhale of relief with accompanying sigh. So, I decided to go with that and attempted to do this strange labored breathing practice, like taking a second sip after you've had your fill, for 2 to 3 minutes, and in all honesty, I think I You could say I failed. I mean, I did it, but I was exhausted when the timer read 1 minute and 51 seconds and persisted for another minute. I felt spent. Although I guess I was getting more air with that double inhale, I felt like I got less and was tired afterward. I guess I can admit that the exhales and sigh were indeed a relief. And felt a little more relaxed after this practice, but the weirdness of breath in twice— breathing in twice seemed disconcerting and maybe a little taxing on my body and mind. Quick edit. So I followed up this practice with some good old-fashioned deep not too long, not too short, and certainly not quick breathing and quieting to recover before going into my— the rest of my quote-unquote quiet time. Quiet time? What you talking about quiet time? Yeah, that's a pet peeve of mine, that phrase, because my time of Bible study, prayer, and meditation have may have moments of silence and an overall sense of peace, but I would never describe them as quiet, as a conversation is always underway. I'm either asking, seeking, knocking, or listening to what the Lord says. I guess that phrase "quiet time" bothers me because it sounds ultra-spiritual and it implies an attainment of some perfect state of blissful peace. Did you enjoy your quiet time with the Lord, M.t.? No? I guess you haven't attained sainthood like the rest of us. Poor you. Um, that's why I call my time with the Lord a daily spiritual practice. Because it's practice, there's no implication that I am— I'm trying to attain some perfect state, uh, that I don't have to worry about doing it right. I just come before the Lord, thank him for what I have, what he has done, and who I am in Christ. Ask him for help, and consider and listen to what he has to tell me in his word and in my spirit. It's an interactive experience, and the last thing I want it to be is quiet. There is a conversation happening here. There is a relationship here, and it is simple and honest and free of any expectations or spiritual posturing. So what about you? Do you think you can follow today's joy practice? Will it lead you to rest and relief? Will you do it right? Well, trust me, our relationship with the Lord is not about doing everything right. If it was, God would never— would have never chosen imperfect men to be a part of his kingdom. So don't freak out like I did. Try the practice, and if it works It works. The idea is to calm ourselves, and if today's techniques doesn't do it for you, do what does. Simple resting and breathing at a comfortable pace is acceptable. The idea is to come into peace and experience the basic joy that comes with living with God's perspective, that we can find peace right now in simple practices of quieting and appreciation. And it's all because God knew what he was doing when he created us all. As always— well, no, let's not go there. Uh, today's Bible verse comes to us from the Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is John 1:12, and the word of God says, but to all who believe it— believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. Today's verse assures us that we who have believed in Christ and accepted him as our Lord have received the right to become children of God. We are accepted by faith in Jesus into God's royal family, and we should rejoice and seek to represent the kingdom. We are new creations in Christ and accepted as God's chosen children. So There you go. You know, we're, you know, some people say we're all children of God, but in truth, the only, you know, we may be all God's creations, but to be part of his royal family, we have to be accepted through faith in Jesus. So we do that, and everyone has the potential to become children of God, but they have to accept Jesus Christ to become part of the family. That's not on the blog because I am short on time and I have to wrap it up. Breathing— the breathing exercise messed me up, and the fact that my computer decided to crash unexpectedly in the midst of writing all that stuff certainly had something to say about it too. But as always, I did share from A.W. Pink's— well, another Christian resource to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk, and we're continuing to share from A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit. As he takes on the doctrine of total depravity apart from the Spirit. And so if you want to read about what the Holy Spirit has to do with total depravity and what A.W. Pink has to say about that, go to mtforchrist.org and you'll see that resource at the end of today's blog post. We're short on time, so we recommend you checking out the podcast on our YouTube channel. Our discipleship classes, Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. But we have to pray first. But yeah, and we got to get out the door. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much, uh, for all that you do for us, Lord, because even though we don't get things right, like breathing, you still love us and you sent Jesus to save us. And when we accept him as our Lord and Savior, we become your children. We become— we have the right to be children of God, and we can exercise that right through faith in Christ. Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today. We pray for anyone who's listening or reading this message, that they'd be blessed and that you'd come alongside them in their prayer requests and their walk. And, uh, like I said, please go before us today, Lord, because we need all the help we can get. Open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead our steps in the things you want us to do, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom and to, uh, to be pleasing to you and maybe point, point other people into, uh, your— to be in your family. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.